1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to a refrigerator having an icemaker assembly provided with a fan that is selectively operable to speed ice formation.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Whether to ensure an adequate amount of ice for a party, or to keep up with daily demand, there is a need to decrease ice production time. To address this concern in the art of refrigerated appliances, it is known to employ fans or other similar devices to direct air across an ice mold in order to decrease ice production time. Typically, the fan is oriented to direct a flow of air from an evaporator over the ice mold. The flow of air disturbs a thermal barrier that is present about the ice mold in order to increase temperature transfer rates and, as a consequence, decrease an amount of time required to form ice.
While the above described arrangements simply utilize fans, other arrangements expose the ice mold directly to the evaporator and utilize an evaporator fan to blow cool air. In some cases the evaporator is part of a primary refrigeration system that is employed to maintain temperatures in a fresh food and freezer compartment of the refrigerator, while in other cases the evaporator is dedicated to ice production. Dedicated evaporators are typically employed in systems which locate the icemaker in a portion of the refrigerator other than the freezer compartment. While effective, the above described systems typically rely on a cooling demand signal to operate. That is, regardless of a need for ice, the above described systems only function when either the fresh food or freezer compartment requires cooling which necessitates the activation of the refrigeration system. Correspondingly, even during periods when no ice production is required, the above described systems function upon activation of the refrigeration system.
Regardless of the teachings in the prior art, there still exists a need for an enhanced system to reduce ice production time in a refrigerator. More specifically, there exists a need for system that is selectively operated to decrease ice production time regardless of a need for cooling in compartments of the refrigerator.